Reimagining Playgrounds: From Modernist Safety Cages to Adventurous Play Spaces
The value of incorporating natural elements like sand, stone and straw into play spaces to nurture both imagination and a deeper connection to the natural world Picture©mayeast
The notion that children require designated play areas is a distinctly modernist construct. Indeed, the emergence of playgrounds coincided with the rise of Modernism and Fordism in the early 20th century. During this period, cities became increasingly zoned into fragmented spaces, and streets, once communal spaces, transformed into perilous arteries for fast-moving vehicles. Playgrounds were established as ‘safe’ islands within this fossil-fueled landscape, designed to shield children from the growing hazards of urban life.
Early Modernist playgrounds prioritized utility and safety, often enclosed by fences to separate children from their broader urban environment. Designed with a focus on safety and control, they featured standardized equipment and rigid layouts, reflecting rational design ethos of the time.. While these spaces succeeded in reducing immediate risks, they often stifled the creativity and risk-taking that emerges from free play.
In my recent book What if Women Designed the City? I conducted walking interviews with women who voiced concerns about modern play parks being overly sanitized and devoid of adventurous appeal. One participant remarked, ‘Don’t try to save our children; they learn when making mistakes’. This sentiment is backed up by studies that have found that children who had improved their motor skills in playgrounds from an early age were less likely to suffer accidents as they got older.[i] [ii] The charity Play England has argued that even when risks are taken and injuries occur, in many instances such experiences have a positive role in child development.[iii] However, as another woman observed, ‘Sometimes, city planning is too geared towards safety’, creating environments that inadvertently hinder children’s growth and confidence exploring,
Germany has been at the forefront of reimagining playgrounds. A growing movement advocates for adventurous, nature-inspired play spaces where children can explore, take risks, and engage more daringly with their surroundings. Berlin, in particular, is renowned for its numerous Spielplätze –thoughtfully designed playgrounds featuring wooden structures, climbing walls, elevated rope walkways, sandpits and tunnels, often centred around a specific theme. There, urban planners, communities and residents increasingly recognise that play should not only be safe but also dynamic, educational, natural, and deeply connected to its’ context.
Berlin’s Leise Park a former cemetery where you can find play structures, benches and hammocks offering a rich sensory landscape for mystery and discovery ©mayeast
One surprising example is the transformation of underutilized cemeteries into playgrounds. In Berlin, portions of historic cemeteries have been reimagined as spaces for both reflection and play. These hybrid areas blur the lines between sacred and secular uses, creating multi-generational spaces where memory and recreation coexist. The uneven terrains, mature trees and eerie features of cemeteries offer rich sensory landscapes for imaginative play, far surpassing the limitations of standardised swings and slides.
The Radical Playgrounds: From Competition to Collaboration exhibition that took place at the edge of Gropius Bau arts venue exemplifies this shift. Conceived as a cross between a sculpture park, playground, museum extension and temporary funfair, the exhibition highlighted the transformative potential of natural materials in fostering sensory-rich play. By integrating elements such as straw, stone, and wood, the exhibition offered ‘a space for collective learning and unlearning, free from competition and rich in opportunities for exploration and growth’.
Unlearning and discovery at the Radical Playgrounds: From Competition to Collaboration play area Picture©mayeast
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 31, states: ‘Every child has the right to rest, relax, play, and take part in cultural and creative activities’. Women I interviewed in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Perth emphasised the importance of equitable play spaces – ensuring that children of all abilities and socio-economic backgrounds have access to adventurous resources that enable them to thrive.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the community of Wester Hailes in Edinburgh built wooden adventure playgrounds known as The Venchies to address the lack of play spaces in their modernist settlement. These structures, ahead of their time, embraced unstructured play and offered children a degree of challenge. Unfortunately, they were short-lived deteriorating due insufficient resources for maintenance and supervision. By 1990, they had all been demolished.
In Rocinha, the largest urban slum community in Rio de Janeiro, children creatively engage with natural materials reflecting the vibrant informality of their surroundings. With limited access to formal playgrounds, they build makeshift toys, structures and games using rocks, wood, cardboard, sand and plants. Whether constructing shelters from fallen branches or creating obstacle courses with stones, these activities foster resourcefulness and encourage imaginative play.
Children at the edge between natural and fossil-fuelled landscapes in the island of Florianópolis, Brazil Picture©mayeast
To prepare children for life’s journey, we must provide spaces where they can safely take age-appropriate risks, learn from mistakes, and build confidence in navigating the consequences of their choices. This requires evolving beyond the sanitized trilogy of swings, seesaws, and slides to develop diverse, imaginative play environments that cater to varying abilities and ages. It also means fostering participatory play, where children can enter into relation with each other across differences engaging in mutual exploration and freedom. Ultimately, it means designing play spaces that embrace a holistic understanding of risk as an essential facet of healthy childhood development.
Play isn’t just for children; it’s a fundamental aspect of well-being that adults often neglect in the rush of being busy with life Picture©mayeast
Designing adventurous playgrounds for children and carers – is one of the 33 leverage identified by women presented in my book What if Women Designed the City? published by Triarchy Press
[i] Kambas, A., Antoniou, P., Xanthi, G., Heikenfeld, R., Taxildaris, K., & Godolias, G. (2004). Accident prevention through development of coordination in kindergarten children. Deutsche Zeitschrift für Sportmedizin, 55:2, pp. 44-47.
[ii] Brussoni, M., Olsen, L. L., Pike, I., & Sleet, D. A. (2012). Risky play and children's safety: balancing priorities for optimal child development. International journal of environmental research and public health, 9:9, pp. 3134–3148.
[iii] Play England (2007). Charter for Play. [online] Available at: https://www.playengland.org.uk/charter-for-play